


Nightwood

by liberallesbian37



Series: Project Team Beta's 2013 Writing Challenge [34]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-19
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-29 21:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1010404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liberallesbian37/pseuds/liberallesbian37
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jillian prepares for her girlfriend to visit her house, and town, for the first time. And there's something very different about her town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightwood

**Author's Note:**

> Challenge Number/Title: 34/Setting Rewrite  
> Date Posted: 10/19/2013  
> Fandom: Original Fiction  
> Rating: G  
> Genre: AU  
> Content Descriptors: Fantasy  
> Character Pairing: Jillian/Charlene

                Jillian sat on her back porch, staring at the backyard and trying to memorize the view. From her spot, she could see rolling waves of the ocean beating gently against the shore. The five o’clock sunset created a pink line where the yellow sun met blue sky. A light mist rose out of the sea.

                Jillian sighed and took a picture of the beach. She wished she had thought to bring her good camera with her. Instead, the pictures on her iPhone would have to work. Hopefully, the pictures would be enough to help her remember this beautiful view.

                She shot out a quick text to her girlfriend. _Where are you?_

                Charlene answered right away. _Sorry. The bus was delayed by the snow. I don’t think I’ll make it until tomorrow morning._

                _Seriously?_ Jillian replied. _You *have* to make it._

She snapped another picture of the ocean. Jillian had lived in Nightwood for five months now and this was the most beautiful setting she’d seen yet. When she’d woken up that morning, she’d felt as though it was a sign. Her girlfriend of six months was visiting her new house for the first time. The two had met during their senior year in college, and unfortunately, they’d both been offered jobs immediately after graduation—in different cities. Charlene’s job was more demanding, so Jillian almost always made the whole trip, or the met in the middle. Besides, as far as Jillian was concerned New York City was much more interesting than Nightwood, Massachusetts. But there was something about Nightwood, and Jillian was thrilled that Charlene would finally see it. She could only hope that Charlene would see something as beautiful as this sunset.

                Several dolphins swam by in the distance, and the sides of Jillian’s mouth turned up. She wondered where they would go now, and where they had been yesterday. The sight of the animals swimming and playing inspired Jillian to run inside the house and grab her sketchbook. When she’d been hired to work with a well known local artist, she’d hardly been able to believe it. Even more amazing was the fact that her landscapes now sold for nearly two hundred a piece. As she sketched the skyline, Jillian had a feeling that this was one landscape that would not be selling for two hundred dollars. If she ended up painting the scene, which she thought she would later that night, with the sketch as reference, the painting almost certainly wouldn’t sell at all. This was the most incredible view she’d ever seen in her life, and maybe ever would. She wanted to remember it forever.

                Jillian was putting the finishing touches on her sketch when her phone buzzed.

                _I’ll be there at noon tomorrow. Promise. Kisses, Char._

Jillian smiled and tapped out a quick text. _Okay. Be safe. Love you, Jill._

                So Charlene wouldn’t see this exact scene. She was sure to see something beautiful anyway.

***

                Jillian woke up the next morning at nine o’clock—two hours _after_ her alarm was supposed to have gone off. She grumbled about being late for a minute before realizing that she wasn’t late. She’d been given the day off and had absolutely no obligations for her girlfriend’s first day in Nightwood. She suddenly remembered the gorgeous previous night and rushed to the back door.

                The ocean had been replaced by a never ending cloud of trees. Where there had been sand and mist there was ice and snow. Jillian sighed. It was beautiful in its own way, but it wasn’t the beach. Yesterday had been the third night in a row the weather had been bright and summery, and now it was back to winter. She’d hoped that Charlene’s first night would be something of a surprise. Swimming weather in the middle of November. Instead, it was typical New England winter.

                Maybe it was a good thing, Jillian mused. If the scenery was too strange the first day, Charlene might have been scared off. It was better that she would see something familiar and then she could experience the magic of Nightwood. Jillian hadn’t exactly told her girlfriend about the nature of the town. She hadn’t mentioned that it followed no discernible weather patterns, nor had she revealed that the landscape actually changed every night. Every single night. In five months, she hadn’t seen any two identical days in a row. There had been days that were similar, and she was nearly positive that the forest in her backyard had appeared a few weeks ago, but never two days in a row. Everything had to change every night.

                She didn’t know exactly how it worked, or why, and she didn’t know how to explain it either. After all, all she’d been told when she’d arrived was that “Nightwood is different”. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out what that meant. She’d gotten the shock of her life when—in the middle of June—her backyard was covered in snow. So maybe it was a good thing. The last thing she wanted was to give Charlene a heart attack. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t told Charlene anything about the town. Part of it could be Charlene’s own excitement about moving to New York. She’d grown up in the Midwest and New York was practically heaven as far as she was concerned. How could little Nightwood compare to that? More than that, Jillian knew fear had held her back. How do you tell someone a town changes every night without sounding absolutely crazy? Charlene was Jillian’s first real girlfriend, and Jillian didn’t want to ruin that. There was a chance that Charlene would think she was crazy anyway, but if Jillian had told her before she would think she was crazy for sure. At least now evidence was on Jillian’s side. Still, she had tried to prepare herself for the possibility of Charlene bolting tomorrow morning when she woke up to a place she hadn’t gone to sleep in.

                Jillian didn’t even realize that she’d gone through her morning routine until she was done and it was ten thirty. Time to pick up Charlene from the bus station.

 _Dear God,_ Jillian whispered under her breath, _please don’t let her think I’m crazy._

                


End file.
